Twitter Reactions: Zimbabwe hold on to a tie against West Indies

It was an important game with respect to the tri-series. The hosts Zimbabwe desperately needed a win to stay in contention for the series. West Indies only had domination on their agenda. The match eventually turned out to be an absolutely nail-biting contest. Zimbabwe played their hearts out to get close to the victory. They were only a sniff away from the victory.

Albeit they did not win the match, they ensured that they had drawn some points on the points table. They shared points with West Indies after having put on a herculean effort to tie the game. To speak in all fairness, nobody gave them a chance. But the way the hosts turned up for the match, was simply astounding. They opted to bat first after winning the toss.

After losing their openers early in the innings, it was a marathon stand between Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza that set the stage for the Zimbabweans. They put on 144 for the 3rd wicket and kept the visitors at bay for a long time. It was hard word for the West Indies bowlers to break the partnership.

The moment arrived for the West Indies when Ervine missed out on a well-deserved century. He was dismissed on 92. Raza, too, failed to make a big one. He perished after scoring 77. The Zimbabwe side batted very poorly to succumb from 218/4 to 257/10. The entire lower order collapsed which saw West Indies crawl back in the match.

Only one among the last 7 batsmen got into the double digits. Meanwhile, the social media was in praise for Zimbabwean batsmen for putting up a fight against the Windies. The dramatic run chase began with Kraigg Brathwaite looking good in the anchor role. His 78 at the top order gave the hosts a very little chance to sniff a win. Shai Hope’s magnificent ton only took the hopes away from the Zimbabwe unit.

Once they departed, the hosts got back into the game. West Indies needed just 4 to win off the last over. But an excellent over from Donald Tiripano ensured that only 3 was scored off it. 3 wickets in the over ensured that the Zimbabwean camp jumped in delight as the match ended in a tie.

Here are the best tweets from the match:

After Trump, it is time for the other 'Donald' to surprise us. Well bowled Donald Tiripano. #ZIMvWI pic.twitter.com/wZ90YPaXbE

— Sandipan Banerjee (@im_sandipan) November 19, 2016

Well done Zimbabwe! Wattey fight back. Stunning game, as expected best match in this triseries #ZIMvWI

— NIMMO! (@PirateKing777) November 19, 2016

Wow what a match this has been, people watching #IndvEng and #NZvPak, should follow this series as well. #ZIMvWI

— Hassin (@hassin_03) November 19, 2016

WI: 24 runs was needed in last 3 overs with 7 wickets in hand.

Zimbabwe managed to tie the game by taking 5 wickets. #ZIMvWI

— ️Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) November 19, 2016

West Indies needed 4 from 6 balls, and then this happens

1
W
W
1LB
1
W

34th tie in ODIs

ZIM 257 all-out in 50 overs, WI 257/8#ZIMvWI

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) November 19, 2016

Not a record that matters much, but Shai Hope (101) becomes the first wicketkeeper to score a century in a tied ODI. #ZIMvWI

— Deepu Narayana (@deeputalks) November 19, 2016

Teams involved in most tied ODIs:

9 Australia/ West Indies *
8 England/ Pakistan
7 India
6 NZ/ SA/ Zimbabwe *#ZIMvWI

— Deepu Narayana (@deeputalks) November 19, 2016

Another day, another…tie!? Awesome fight from Zimbabwe today to salvage a tie against West Indies against the odds. #ZIMvWI

— ZimbabweCricketNews (@ZimCricketNews) November 19, 2016

34th tied match in ODI history.
9th for WI
6th for Zim.
1st between these two teams.
3rd in Zim.
Last one was Eng vs SL on June 2016#ZIMvWI https://t.co/aI07tQZRNh

— Rohit Yadav (@cricrohit) November 19, 2016

Teams involving in most ties in ODIs
WI 9
AUS 9
PAK 8
India 7
ZIM 6
NZ 6
SA 6
SL 5
IRE 3
NED 1#ZIMvWI

— Abhishek Kumar (@abhik2593) November 19, 2016

What!! #ZIMvWI ended in a tie. Sigh Hope? Donald Tiripano, remember the name, like USA gonna remember the first half of that name for years?

— P₹akash $inha ?? (@Predicto_Praky) November 19, 2016

What a match !!!! Happy for zim but what needless batting by C braithwait nd WI #ZIMvWI

— Rajesh Chandani (@rajeshchandani4) November 19, 2016

It's Donalds' year. First Donald Trump chocked the world , Now Donald Tiriparno chocked Westindies #ZIMvWI

— Mr Das (@Shank619) November 19, 2016

WTF #Zimbabwe tied a match without Robin Singh in it#ZIMvWI

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) November 19, 2016

List of ties Zimbabwe were involved in ODIs
v India(1993)
v Pak(1995)
v India(1997)
v NZ(1997)
v Ireland(2007)
v West Indies (2016)#ZIMvWI

— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) November 19, 2016

One day you score 19 in last over, another day you fail to score just 4.

Cricket is amazing ? #ZIMvWI

— ️Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) November 19, 2016

Jason Holder unbeaten on 4 off 8 balls. Imagine if he was Indian captain! #ZIMvWI

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) November 19, 2016

Cliche time.

'Cricket is a funny game'#ZIMvWI

— Vishwas k (@vishwask1) November 19, 2016

why boy Tiripano bowled only 6 overs? #ZIMvWI

— Hashim Malik (@hached) November 19, 2016

awesome odi between #ZIMvWI, excellent death bowling by #Tiripono. this tie is as good as a win for #zimbabwe

— Uzman Raza (@Uzman_Raza) November 19, 2016